FLOOD & WATER MANAGEMENT


the new government the local authorities will not have the resources to effectively carry out their new roles in flood risk management, under the Flood and Water Management Act. Despite assurances from the government, there are real concerns about how the role of the Environment Agency nationally and local authorities delivering Pitt’s recommendations following the summer 2007 will be fully funded.


Before the general election, the Local Government Association rejected Defra’s funding assumptions and question the validity of using seven year old data from a very small percentage of authorities to calculate spending on private sewers.


The question has to be asked how Defra believes local authorities will be able to fund their flood risk responsibilities and maintenance of sustainable drainage systems after the transfer of private drains to water companies in 2011.


DEFRA has argued that costs for local authorities will be offset by ‘savings’ from the reduced risk of flooding in the future. There are, however, two problems with this; Councils do not budget for contingencies like flooding. Response and recovery costs are funded from reserves and other budgets and any ‘savings’ made at some point in the future do not mean funds are available for building up the flood risk management role now


I welcome the commitment to sustainable drainage in the Flood and Water Management Act and believe that developers need to include sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) in their plans at the earliest stages of the planning process to ensure that they are successfully designed,


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built and maintained and am pleased to see that the Act takes steps to ensure this.


The question


has to be asked how Defra believes local authorities will be able to fund their flood risk responsibilities and maintenance of sustainable drainage systems after the transfer of private drains to water companies in 2011


However, there are still some unanswered issues relating to SUDS, especially with regards to funding and responsibilities. The Act outlines local authorities will have responsibility for SUDS but it does not stipulate if they have responsibility for the regular maintenance of the SUDS also.


The Act should have properly outlined ownership and regular maintenance of SUDS and although local authorities were given the responsibility of SUDS, I believe that really it may be the water companies who are best placed to take on the responsibility of ownership and maintenance of SUDS.


They have the skills, expertise and resources to take on this role, more so than the local authorities and during the Act’s passage through parliament I tabled amendments to that effect.


While there has been a significant real increase in flood defence spending since 1997 in order to maintain existing levels of flood protection to 2035,


spending on asset maintenance and construction would have to increase by 80% to over £1 billion per year. That is an increase of £20 million plus inflation per year to 2035, excluding the costs of tackling surface and groundwater flooding. This investment would save the economy some £180 billion over the next 100 years.


Finding the funding necessary for flood protection works will be challenging in the light of budgetary constraints. While national funding will continue to be important, local and other funding will have to play an increasing role in meeting local flood risk management priorities.


So there remain many challenges ahead, amongst others competing claims to local authority budgets as well as the fact that the statement of principles between the government and the insurance companies to be reviewed in 2013. Currently the insurance companies pledge to ensure properties against flood risk providing that the government has improved flood defences. We must be vigilant to ensure Britain has the best flood defences we can afford.


Nov/Dec 10


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